Quite why people are surprised that Andrew Lansley has stuck to his plans to introduce GP Commissioning is a mystery. I’m struggling to recall one of his speeches or policy documents in recent years where it wasn’t mentioned. Anyway, let’s be clear, widespread control of commissioning budgets by GPs was where the NHS was headed
So, NICE, the body charged with ensuring cost-effectiveness in the NHS, says that alcohol minimum unit pricing is the most effective way to tackle excessive drinking and its impact on the NHS and society. Interesting, and certainly a challenge to the new Health Secretary and his alcohol taxation review, but ultimately misguided. Where NICE
Every few years we unearth another hospital scandal in which we discover, all too late, that many patients have needlessly died. On the face of it there is no common theme to these failures: the bug clostridium dificille at Stoke Mandeville, possibly similar infections at Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells; emergency admissions at Mid-Staffordshire, and possibly
A common response to the impending age of austerity in the NHS is to suggest that charges are introduced for visits to the GP. The line of reasoning adopted by MEPs and think-tanks alike is that a means-tested £20 charge will “encourage healthy, wealthier people to use the NHS only when absolutely necessary.” Leaving aside
In an email this morning, David Cameron told me (and thousands of others registered for the Conservative conference) that he is proud of the NHS. Me too. Call it Orwellian if you like, but equitable access to healthcare is a pretty good thing. But who has the best healthcare system, the USA or the UK?
